About

The Oxford German Network is the first university-led cultural network. It was launched in September 2012 by the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages with the support of Founding Partners Jesus College, Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, Magdalen College School, Oxford, and BMW Group Plant Oxford. It is designed to build on local strengths in the Oxford area, with partners including schools of all types alongside university departments, organisations, and companies. The Oxford German Network facilitates personal contact between individuals with similar interests, and opens up enjoyable opportunities for communicating with people from another culture in their language. It acts as a beacon for the study of languages in the UK and conducts research into the status and uptake of German to promote language provision at national level. By connecting up academic institutions, cultural organisations, businesses, and policy-makers locally, nationally, and internationally, the Oxford German Network fosters an active interest in productive cross-cultural cooperation. It is part of the Think German Network (TGN) initiative.

The work of the Oxford German Network is supported by many enthusiastic undergraduate and postgraduate Student Ambassadors from the University of Oxford. In this blog, they give their experiences of engaging with OGN events, of German, Austrian and Swiss culture, and of learning German.